The next day...
As all five of them sat in the living room, they had already eaten breakfast and were ready to leave at any time.
However, Meiya was the only one missing, as she had completely forgotten to pack her stuff yesterday.
"Let me go help her."
As Katherine headed down the new hallway in the storage room, the three kids were starting to get a little bored waiting.
"Luqing, how did your mom forget to pack?" Sophia impatiently asked.
"She said she was going to wake up early to pack today..." Luqing quietly replied.
"How can someone at her age forget something like that?" Mary complained as she started rolling on the sofa.
"Shouldn't the older a person is, the more forgetful? Mary, your point doesn't make sense."
"Hmph! Whatever."
As Mary ignored Alex's argument, Katherine finally came out with Meiya along with her suitcases.
"Let's go!"
---
After the six of them exited the school, they headed straight to the bank to use the teleporter.
With the tickets paid and a light flashing before their eyes, they were now in a completely different city.
"This is amazing... Magic can do this?" Meiya murmured in disbelief as they exited the teleporter.
"Yep, just a magical spell cast onto the ground... Does your continent not have this?"
Katherine curiously asked as they stood foot out into the world, letting the fresh air hit right in their faces.
"Nope. We don't have anything remotely similar... We usually are forced to fly there ourselves."
As the six of them looked around them, they were in the middle of a small hill, with the town right before them.
"Mom, this is Ironpeak?" Sophia curiously asked as they began walking down the stairs towards the town.
"Nope, we're actually at Silverforge... We can't take the teleporter directly to Ironpeak unless we have permission from the other side.
We're going to take a carriage ride to Ironpeak... It's usually only a few hour ride from here."
As six of them got closer and closer to town, they were immediately hit with a strong smell that made them almost want to throw up.
Oddly enough, there were fewer and fewer buildings as they began walking toward the center of the town.
"Ugh, what is that smell coming from?" Mary murmured as they finally arrived at the town center.
"It's the yearly racing season. You guys came just in time. It's about to start now."
A stranger replied as a crowd of people blocked them from walking any closer to the town center itself.
Right before them was a giant, open square with hundreds of different animals all lining up in a line.
With the rope that blocked anyone from walking closer, it was clear they were in some sort of race, just like the man had just said.
"It's a person riding a dragon!" Sophia suddenly yelled as she pointed towards one of the contestants.
"It's not a dragon. How blind do you have to be——Ahem, it's just a big lizard with wings."
Down below was the perfect view of the race, with a massive crowd on the other side standing on various buildings.
"You got the carriage?" Meiya asked.
"Yeah."
As Alex looked towards the race, he could finally see the full picture of the race.
Twenty contestants were running around a track with all kinds of obstacles ahead of them.
From horses to mutated frogs to even the giant lizard that Sophia pointed at earlier, they were all neck and neck in the race.
The first obstacle was just some fences that they had to jump over, which they had already run past.
But the next challenge was soon to be approaching, with rows of flame firing from the side.
"How are they going to get past that?" Alex curiously asked as the flame didn't show any sign of disappearing.
Instead, it only got stronger as time went on, with more and more rows of flame being activated.
"They aren't just your typical animal," Katherine replied as the first contestant had reached the second challenge.
The giant lizard who was first suddenly started flapping its wings, slowly going up higher and higher until it was above the flame.
As it flew to the other side of the track, Alex soon realized it wasn't real 'wings.'
Instead, it was just flaps connected to its hand, similar to what a wingsuit looks like.
"Oh my god! What are they doing!"
Mary was in complete shock as several of the contestants straight-up ran through the flame at full speed, overtaking the slow-flying lizard.
"How are they completely fine?" Sophia asked in confusion.
"Those animals are fire-resistant, aren't they?" Alex curiously asked as he looked over to Katherine.
"Yep... But the rider isn't fire-resistant."
As soon as Katherine finished talking, several of the contestant's animals suddenly stopped as the rider fell onto the ground.
A shot of water suddenly appeared on top of them, extinguishing the flame on their clothes and body.
With the time wasted, the giant lizard was now back on the lead as the rider got back onto their mount.
With the third obstacle coming up, all of the contestants were back to being neck and neck.
"Who do you guys think is going to win?" Meiya suddenly asked.
"That lizard!" Mary quickly declared her answer before anyone else could take it.
"The cat-looking one is going to win... I can feel it's going to overtake from third place." Sophia murmured.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that... Feel like that wolf one is faster," Alex answered.
"Luqing, what do you think?" Meiya asked, noticing her staying silent the whole time.
"I think that frog is going to win." Luqing quietly whispered.
"Kate, what about you?" Meiya asked as she looked to the last person other than herself, who hadn't bet yet.
"That turtle is going to win... Slow and steady wins the race."
Katherine's bet confused all five of them, as the giant turtle was currently dead last, still going through the flame.
"Then I'm going to bet on that white horse winning." Meiya betted on the one in the middle of the pack.